Beaded shoe welting and method of making the same



June 6, 1961 w, GREENE 2,986,754

BEADED SHOE WELTING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed May 12, 1958 39 FIG.6

INVENTOR. Percy W Greene ATTORNEY 2,986,754 BEADED SHOE WELTING 'AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Percy W. Greene, Whitman, Mass., assignor to Barbour welting Company, Brockton, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed May 12, 1958, Ser. No. 734,711 2 Claims. (Cl. 12-146) This invention relates to a beaded shoe welting and to a method of making the same.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and improved shoe welting which is characterized by novel structure which enables a welting of increased proportions to be constructed from a fillet of welting stock less in width than the width of the finished beaded welt wherein a substantial saving in the cost of the welt stock is effected.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method of making a beaded shoe welting having a bead height and inseam flange width of relatively large proportions from a fillet of leather welting stock substantially less in width than the width of the finished welt.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the novel beaded welting and in the method of making the same as hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification,

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

FIGS. 1 through 5 are perspective viewsillustrating the cutting, folding and molding steps in the formation of the present shoe welting; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the finished beaded welting formed in accordance with the steps illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5.

In general the present invention contemplates a novel and improved beaded shoe welting and method of making the same wherein a shoe welt of the desired proportions in width-and thickness may be produced from a fillet or strip of leather orfother suitable material, said strip being of less width than the finished welting. In accordance with the pre'sent invention this may be accomplished by initially providing a fillet of athickness slightly greaterthan the thickness of thefinished welting from which a 1.

hinged flap cut from the underside or flesh side of the strip, anda hinged flap cut from one edgeand a coextensive portion of the upper or grain side of the fillet are foldedin a manner such that the bottom flap provides a portion of the underside of the inseam flange,- and an extended portion thereof provides a core member over:

which the upper hinged ,flap or cover member is folded to provide an upstanding bead, an extended portion of the cover flap forming the upper marginal portion of the inseam flange. Inpractic'e the parts are folded and shaped and deformed to provide in 'the finished welt a relatively high bead and an extended inseam edge whereby the finished beaded welting is of a width greater than the width of the fillet from-which it is produced.

In order to illustrate the savings effected by the present I right angles to the upper surface of the fillet exposing a invention in the cost of the welt stock utilized in the manufacture of the present welt, the welt is hereinillustrated and described. as being manufactured from a fillet or strip of welt stock {2 in width. Prior to the present invention in order to manufacture a beaded welt of the general type ice and width herein illustrated and described it was necessary to utilize a strip of Welt stock or more in width In other words to produce a finished welt wide. in order to produce a finished welt of a given dimension it was necessary to start with a fillet of welt stock approximately greater in width than the width of the finished welt. Thus, it will be apparent that a saving of approximately A in width of welt stock is effected by the present invention, and it may be seen that the savings thus effected are substantial considering the high cost of high grade welt stock and the hundreds of thousands of yards which may be produced. In practice the cost 'of the welt stock varies with thewidth of the stock rather than the thickness thereof.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1 through 5, 10 represents'a substantially rec-I tangular leather fillet or strip from which the present welt may be made and which preferably comprises a fillet /2" wide and thick having a grain surface 12 and a, flesh surface 14. As illustrated in FIGS:'1 and 2 and'in Y at a point 24 in the flesh surface 14 of the fillet spaced about A inwardly from .the marginal edge 22 and is extended upwardly parallel tothe marginal edge 22 to 1 a point 26 disposed approximately downwardly from Y the grain surface 12. The incision is then extended horizontally or substantially at right angles to its first direction and parallel to the grain surface 12, the incision extending to the left a distance of about 91 terminating at a midway point 28 spaced approximately '34 inwardly from 1 the opposed marginal edge 19, and the incision is also ex tended to the right adistance of about ,5 terminating at 21- about from the marginal edge 22 as shown in FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 3,- a second incision is made; i starting ata point 18 in the'marginal edge '19, spaced approximately upwardly from the flesh surface 14,;;- and is extended parallel to' surface14 to a point 20 which may be spaced inwardly'about% from point The next step in the method of producing the present i Welt, is illustrated in FIG. 4and comprises unfolding or; lifting the ,4 thick marginal, edge portion 23 to a horizontal position substantially parallel to the uppergrain surface 12 the portion 2.3.hinging at point 21. An inv cision is made in the portion 23- commencing at point 21 at the inner edge thereof and is extended parallel to the substantially horizontal surface 22 of portion 23 terminating at a point '25 spaced about. 19, 7 inwardly frorntheouter edge of the portion 23. This cutting operation pro-'- vides a thick upper portion coextensive with'the top surface of thefillet and a ;thick; lower portion hingedly connected at25, the lower portion being therea after unfolded on hinge point 25 to further extend and increase the length of the thickupper flap portion.

designated in its extended form by the numeral 32.

As'illustrated in-FIGS- 4 and; 5,; the incision-coma; mencingin the marginal edge 19 at point.18 provides a bottom.v flap 30- hingedly connected to the body of the fillet at 20, and the incisions commencing inflesh surface 14-at point 24 and in the marginal edge portion '23,;

provide an elongated cover flap 32 hingedly connected at 28 to thebody of .thefillet. The flaps'30 and 32 may first be folded in the manner illustrated wherein the elongated cover flap 32 is folded upwardly at substantially flesh surface 33 and an edge surface 34. The bottom flap. 30 is-folded around and over the edge 34, then against the exposed surface 33 underlying the cover flap Patented June 6, 19 61 the bottom flap 30 is preferably of a height such as to provide a core portion 41 for the bead which is formed as illustrated in FIG. 6 by folding the cover flap 32 over the folded portion of the bottom flap 30, the parts thus arranged providing an inseam flange portion 35, a head portion 31 and a welt extension 38. As also shown in FIG. 6, the free end of the cover flap is preferably folded to extend substantially flush with the rounded edge of the folded bottom flap. The contacting portions of the elements forming the bead and the inseam flange may be provided with suitable adhesive of the type which is commonly used in the welt manufacturing industry prior to the folding and molding operations. In practice the bottom flap is molded around the edge 34 and into engagem'ent with the upper flap 32 by a first molding operation to produce the structure shown in FIG. 5.

In order to complete the formation of the beaded welt, after the cover flap is folded over the folded bottom flap the assembly is molded into the shape shown in FIG. 6, and the molding operation provides a relatively deep stitching groove 39 in the underside of the fillet. It will be apparent that during the molding operation the parts of the assembled welt are compressed and shaped in the manner illustrated wherein the cover flap 32 is laminated to the overfolded portion of the bottom flap 30 which in turn is laminated to the underlying portion of the body of the fillet upon which the bottom flap is folded.

From the description thus far it will. be observed that the novel manner of cutting the cover flap 32 provides an elongated flap having sufflcient length to provide a relatively high bead portion 37 and an extended inseam edge portion 35 for example the bead portion being about high from the underside of the fillet as compared with a norrnalVr" high bead. It will also be observed that cutting of the 7 flap 30 from the bottom of'the' g" thick fillet reduces thethickness of the welt to the desired thickness of Ms". As illustrated in FIG. 4, it will be observe d that the initially cut thick portion 23 of'the cover: flap 32 cut from the marginal edge 22 reduces the width of the fillet to approximately W one edgebeing defined by the edge surface 34, and that whenthe bottom flap 30 is folded around the edge 34, as shown in FIG. the hinge point 20 is stretched out flat and disappears, and the lower portion of the edge 34 bends upwardly, on a hinge point indicated atj40, into face-to-face engagement with the upper portion, thereof. It will. also be observed that; the folded bottom Help 30 forms'a hinge point at42;providing a substantiallytrir angular portion 44 about wide at its base between the hinge points 40 and 42, thus extending thewidth of' the welt by 5 f. This thickness together with the 52" thickness of the bottom flap 30 itself from the hinge point 42 to the outer rounded edge of the fold'brings' the overall width of the welt to the desired width. It will be understood that the hinge points 40, 42 and the triangular portion 4 4 are formed by bucklingof the; material "itself during the folding and-moldingoperations. As a result of the folding operation to extend the width of the welt and to p ovide' a relatively high head, as above described, and also as a result of the molding and compressingoperation at which time the stitching groove 39 is formed, the inseam flange portion 35 is deformed in the manner'illustrated in FIG. 6 to thereby extend the overall width of the fillet to a width substantially ,5, greater than the width ofthe fillet from which it is made. It will be obseryed that a substantial thicknessand body in the area adjacent the stitching groove 39' is maintained to provide the inseam flange with the strength and rigidity necessary to hold the inseam stitching and to enable the stitching to pull the welt tightly against the upper of the shoe in which it may beincorpoi'ated,

While it is preferred to produce thepresent, novel beaded,welting from a grainleather fillet, other suitable L material may be used, and it is not desired to limit the invention to the use of grain leather welt stock. Also, while for the purposes of illustration specific proportions of a desired width and thickness of the welt have been herein defined it will be understood that welts of other proportions in width and thickness may be, produced in accordance with the above defined method to provide a finished unitary beaded welting strip of greater width than the width of the initial strip of welt stock whereby to'etfect a saving in the use of welt stock.

From the above description it will be apparent that the present novel beaded shoe welting is. characterized by a structure providing an integral cover flap and core memher which are incised from the body of the fillet of welt stock and folded in a manner such as to provide a finished molded welt having a bead and inseam flange of increased proportions and an overall width which is greater than the width of the strip of welt stock from which the finished welting is made. It will be apparent that this expedient results in a substantial saving of welt s ock and, therefore, enables the present welting to be produced in an eflicient and economical manner.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of making a beaded shoe welt having a welt extension portion, an inseam flange portion and an upstanding head portion disposed intermediate said welt extension and inseam flange, which comprises: taking an elongated strip of welt material of less width than that of the desired finished welt and having substantially parallel top and bottom faces and substantially parallel side edges and forming a cover flap by making a vertical incision in said bottom'face adjacent to and parallel with one side edge of the strip at a distance from said one side edge approximately equal to twice the thickness of the desired cover flap and a depth such that the inner end of the incision terminates short of said top face a distance approximately equal to the desired thickness of said cover flap, making a horizontal incision in the strip parallel with said top face and intersecting the inner end of said vertical incision, said horizontal incision commencing at a point spaced from said one side edge a distance approximately equal to the desired thickness of the cover flap, to provide a hinged marginal portion, said horizontal incision continuing into the strip to, a point approximately midway of the width of the strip, lifting said hinged marginal portion to a horizontal position parallel with said top surface, and making a horizontal incision medially therein commencing atthe inner edge thereof and continuing to a point spaced from the outer edge thereof a distance approximately equal to the desired thickness of said upper flap; forming a bottom flap by making a horizontal incision in the strip commencing at the other side edge, of said strip, at a distance from said bottom face approximately equal to the desired thickness of the bottom flap, and extending parallel with said bottom face and terminating with its inner end spaced from the point of the vertical incision a distance approximately equal to the desired thickness of said bottomflap to provide ahinge for said bottom flap; raising the cover flap upwardly into a position at right angles to the top face of the strip to exposethe underlying horizontal surface formed by the first-mentioned horizontal incision; folding the bottom flap around the side edge of the strip produced by said vertical incision and over onto said exposed horizontal portion and then upwardly parallel to and in contact with said cover flap to provide an upstanding core portion and a horizontal inseam flange portion; molding the bottom flap in the folded position aforesaidby a firstmolding operation; folding the cover flap over the, upright core to. We a ea es. bedsr gfunhs .l lr ia a airlsor rfiar.

onto said inseam flange portion; and then subjecting the flaps folded as described to a second molding operation to compress and deform the same to produce a finished beaded welt having a relatively high bead, and a welt extension and an inseam flange having an overall width greater than the original width of the strip.

2. The method of making a beaded shoe welt as defined the welt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Vizard July 17, 1956 

